1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus configured to output information relating to the operation state of respective devices provided inside the apparatus and a method for outputting the information of the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally known is an image forming apparatus, for example, an electrophotographic apparatus of such a type that, after it has been connected to an external storage device, information in a nonvolatile memory can be output to the external storage device by a predetermined operation on an operation panel (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 4-50957).
After such an image forming apparatus has been connected to the external storage apparatus, the information in the image forming apparatus cannot be output to the external storage device unless a predetermined operation is done by the operator on the operation panel.
The information stored in the image forming apparatus includes, for example, information relating to the state of respective devices provided inside the apparatus, information on a problem involved, and so on. The field service person visits a customer to check an image forming apparatus installed on the customer site and, after starting the image forming apparatus in a specific mode, obtains the above-mentioned information with the use of a computer, etc. At this time, there are cases that the service person takes such information back to his or her home office for analysis, etc.
In such a case, in order to output the information of the image forming apparatus to the external storage device, it is necessary for the operator (service person) to perform a specific operation on the operation panel. This operation has been not only cumbersome but also time-consuming.
Further, when the information of the image forming apparatus is output by connecting it to the external storage device, there are cases where it is not possible to know the previous time and date at which the information in the image forming apparatus is obtained. It is necessary to output all the information because it is not possible to designate the information which has been output from the image forming apparatus to the external storage device. For this reason, it is necessary to output such originally unnecessary information items from the image forming apparatus to the external storage device. This requires a lot of time, i.e., time is wasted.